Return to imperial measures would drive up prices, warn industry experts

Return to imperial measures would drive up prices just amid ongoing cost of living crisis, industry leaders have warned.

Prime minister Boris Johnson is keen to bring back measurements in pounds and ounces and is expected to announce the move during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Reintroducing imperial measurements would be a “distraction” from the country’s problems and increase grocers’ costs according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents some of the biggest supermarkets and retail chains in the country.

BRC assistant director of food Andrea Martinez-Inchausti said, “Supermarkets are focusing on delivering the best value for their customers in the face of intense inflationary pressures.

“Introducing new laws to change the way we measure food and drink would both distract from this vital task, and add cost and complexity if existing products are required to be relabelled.”

The BRC pointed out that manufacturers and retailers are already free to list imperial measures alongside metric ones.

Joe Harrison, chief executive of the National Market Traders Federation, said it made little sense for stalls to shift back to imperial when most young people had grown up with metric measurements.

Harrison told the Daily Telegraph that the shift would be a “hassle”.

The government has been accused of trying to “weaponise nostalgia” among Brexit voters at a time when the cost of living crisis hits hard-pressed families.

BEIS, the business department, will launch a consultation on Friday (3) looking at whether retailers should be able to sell products in imperial measurements rather than metric.

The price of groceries has risen by about 6 percent in the past year and some items, like pasta, have jumped by 50 percent.

The EU weights and measures directive came into force in 2000, with traders legally required to use metric units for sale-by-weight or the measure of fresh produce. While it is still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces, these have to be displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms.

Metric units are not expected to be scrapped but traders are likely to be free to choose which they want to use following a government study into the proposal led by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

During the 2019 general election campaign, Johnson had pledged that he would bring back imperial units in shops.